With just days to go before the Irish squad jets off to Sydney, the five cyclists concerned are all preparing in very different ways. Ciaran Power is continuing a series of Italian races with the Linda McCartney squad while his team-mate for the Elite men's road race, David McCann, finished fourth in the recent RouenGisors race in France.
The female road-race competitor Deirdre Murphy was third in the Syracuse Criterium and 16th in the bunch sprint which settled the Chris Thater Memorial Criterium. She will ride the Killington stage race this weekend alongside the US Olympic team and multiple world champion Jeannie Longo before flying out to Sydney from New York.
Robin Seymour, meanwhile, travels to Switzerland today to dispute the final World Cup mountain-bike event in Lausanne on Sunday. He will then return to London where he will meet up with McCann and Tarja Owens, who is preparing for the Elite women's cross-country mountain-bike, plus officials Peter Purfield, John Keegan and team manager Tony Allen.
Although the domestic season is drawing to a close there is no shortage of races for some of the other top Irish cyclists with a number of big events abroad beckoning.
However, first off for the Ireland squad is a domestic race with Paddy Moriarty, Tommy Evans, Mark Scanlon and the new under 23-champion David O'Loughlin lining out for the two-day Belfast-Dublin-Belfast event this weekend. Also sure to figure are a strong Leinster team, comprising the silver and bronze medallists in the under-23 race, namely Paul Healion and Shane Prendergast, together with Brian Lennon and Shane Baker.
Next week, Brian Kenneally joins the same Irish team to contest the tough Tour of the Peaks in England, with Eugene Moriarty then taking his place in the Tour of Hokkaido in Japan from September 15th-20th. Scanlon and O'Loughlin will then line out with two other, as yet unannounced, Irish riders in the under-23 world championships on October 13th.
Finally, the Irish Cycling Federation are running level one and two coaching courses this month and October - contact the ICF Office at 01-8551522 for details. The Lucan/Orwell CC Leinster League race scheduled for Saturday has been cancelled.
